I think Spring Break is an extreme metaphor for that break we all take from reality sometimes. The thrill of the chase of that fleeting high. The feeling of being overtaken by an experience and wishing it could last forever. The dream that vacation will never end. This film shows the repercussions that follow trying to escape from reality for too long. The girls become consumed by the fantasy and are eventually welcomed into the harsh truths underlying the surface of their perpetual spring break dream world.

The film has no real moral. No character development. It wasn’t meant to. Its about feeling something. An energy. Stimulating the senses. Korine perfectly describes it as hallucinatory, like a drug experience. Its something like an acid trip that turns bad. Each turning point is so intensely felt. The high has a crash. Its a crazy ride from the dorms and spring break planning to gangsters and guns. He also describes it as a “liquid narrative” where the story is told in nonlinear time. It has this strange rhythm to it. Pieces of the dialogue are looped, creating this vehement vibe with these resonating words. The scenes are interestingly cut, and the soundtrack by Skrillex and Cliff Martinez (who scored Drive) really gets inside of you. It all contributes to creating this trance like atmosphere.

Korine calls Spring Breakers a “poem of surfaces,” the aspect in which I think the real genius of the film lies. Its a poem about the lack of depth and values of a generation (or a majority of a generation). He created a world of illusions about a world obsessed with illusions. I saw almost every detail as a metaphorical reflection. All the pop- the Britney Spears sing alongs, the matching bikinis… It’s shot stylistically reminiscent of a modern MTV music video. Bikinis, booze, and boobs everywhere with slow motion shots of jiggling asses. Plenty of coke and smoke. A sea of bright colors. Glowing neon, gangsta rap and dub step. Guns. Korine isn’t glorifying or condemning the spring break party culture. Instead he created a hyperreal portrait of the excitement and danger people seek in the experience of spring break and at the same time he exposes the superficiality and sociopathy behind it all.